HOW efficient Blackburn with Darwen Council are in fulfiling the old adages.

They pursue Margaret Smyth at great cost to recover a penny (LET, August 8) yet one employee is able to allegedly lighten their coffers by £300,000 and one of their departments to overspend by £700,000 -- truly "penny wise but pound foolish."

Would they also put in plain English the gobbledegook "subsequent information provided by our staff was appropriate in the wider circumstances?"

Governments and councils go to great trouble and expense to promote integration in our multicultural society so why does our council, by intending to create a Little Asia in Blackburn (LET, August 15), appear to actively support segregation?

A SEDGWICK, Lyndhurst Avenue, Blackburn.